POST-WAR HOUSING
The number of assignments had to grow gradually, but it was not until the 1950s that Rietveld started to received more of them. This was largely due to the availability of funds for new buildings at the time, but also due to the late recognition and appreciation of his work as an innovative architect.
House Slegers (1955)
This house which included a studio in Velp is based on a one meter pattern (grid) which clearly determines the unity of the overall design. The north facade of the studio consists of a grid of four meters high, filled with windows of one by one meter. The house is limited in its size. To visually enlarge the space, the walls between the different rooms are partly made of glass.
House van den Doel in Ilpendam (1959).
This is a house with a large, high living room with panoramic views over the meadows and an open connection to the main bedroom. There are two more small bedrooms, a kitchen with dining area and a consultation room for the client, who was a surgeon. For his wife a studio towards the north of the house was designed.
The house is surrounded by terraces and stairs. There are two perpendicular walls that form an extension of the house and connect it to the garden and the polder. Rietveld considered this building as one of his most successful houses and often invited people to visit it. He himself especially appreciated the rear side, with its spacious view over the polder landscape. The locals had much less appreciation for this house and nicknamed it ‘crematorium’ because of the high black chimney.
Rietveld described the design process in the Bouwkundig Weekblad of 1960 as follows: “Due to the complete absence of disruptive covering details, all the forming parts work with the architecture of the whole; this is the result of decades of experimentation.”
Rietveld considered House van den Doel one of his most successful houses and often invited people to visit it.
Huis van Slobbe
House van Slobbe in Heerlen (1964), is situated against a slope in a hilly area and it seems to rise up from its environment. It consists of a stacking of spaces, but the facades show a tight horizontal structure.
Social Housing
Although Rietveld had a preference for social housing, he was only able to carry out a few of these projects. His many urban designs were not given a chance either.
In 1958 he was able to build about eighty houses in Nagele together with his son Jan.
In the Hoograven neighbourhood of Utrecht (1954-1957), Rietveld received his first major housing commission for 800 units of social housing. He designed these in collaboration with Hanneke Schröder and Jan van Grunsven.
In Reeuwijk Rietveld built a complex of 52 units of social housing, the so-called Om en Om houses (1957-58). The houses have each been rotated 180 degrees, so that the front and back of the houses form a wall. This project is particularly interesting because it partly stems from the core house idea; the equivalence of front and rear facades.
